Bryansk
Bryansk (Russian: Брянск) officially known as both Bryansk and the Bryansk Republic is a state in northern Eurasia comprised of (currently) one state located 379 kilometers (235 mi) southwest of Moscow. History The first written mention of Bryansk was in 1146, in the Hypatian Codex, as Debryansk (appears variously as Дъбряньск, Дьбряньск, and in other spellings). Its name is derived from "дъбръ", a Slavic word for "ditch", "lowland" or "dense woodland;" the area was known for its dense woods, брянские леса, of which very little remains today. Bryansk remained poorly attested until the Mongol invasion of Russia. It was the northernmost of the Severian cities in the possession of the Chernigov Rurikids. After Mikhail of Chernigov was murdered by the Mongols and his capital was destroyed, his son moved his seat to Bryansk. In 1310, when the Mongols sacked the town again, it belonged to the principality of Smolensk. Olgierd of Lithuania acquired Bryansk through inheritance in 1356 and gave it to his son, Dmitry the Elder. Until the end of the century, the town was contested between Jogaila, Vytautas, Švitrigaila, and George of Smolensk. Great Duchy of Moscow conquered Bryansk following the Battle of Vedrosha in 1503. The town was turned into a fortress which played a major role during the Time of Troubles. Peter the Great incorporated Bryansk into the Kiev governorate, but Catherine the Great deemed it wise to transfer the town to the Oryol guberniya in 1779. Napoleonic Wars and its Aftermath After Napoleon’s invasion of 1812 many Russian citizens saw it as a opportunity for independence however none of the states made their move when Russia was brought into the War of the Seventh Coalition in 1815. Many Russian citizens decided that it was best not to risk another invasion by Napoleon by weakening the Russian Empire. It wasn’t until 1891 when the Industrial Revolution began to put forth a significant influence in Russia. The liberal elements among the industrial capitalists and nobility believed in peaceful social reform and a constitutional monarchy, forming the Constitutional Democrats, or Kadets. The Socialist-Revolutionaries (SRs) combined the Narodnik tradition and advocated the distribution of land among those who actually worked it—the peasants. Another radical group was the Social Democrats, exponents of Marxism in Russia. The Social Democrats differed from the SRs in that they believed a revolution must rely on urban workers, not the peasantry. Imperial Russia’s Decline In 1903 the gradualist Mensheviks, and the more radical Bolsheviks where the two largest parties in Russia at the time.. The Mensheviks believed that the Russian working class was insufficiently developed and that socialism could be achieved only after a period of bourgeois democratic rule while the Bolsheviks, under Vladimir Lenin, advocated the formation of a small elite of professional revolutionists, subject to strong party discipline, to act as the vanguard of the proletariat in order to seize power by force. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was a major blow to the Tsarist regime and increased the potential for unrest. In January 1905, an incident known as "Bloody Sunday" occurred when Father Gapon led an enormous crowd to the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to present a petition to the tsar. When the procession reached the palace, Cossacks opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. The Russian masses were so furious over the massacre that a general strike was declared demanding a democratic republic. This marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Soviets (councils of workers) appeared in most cities to direct revolutionary activity. Russia was paralyzed, and the government was desperate. Although the country was split in terms of politics many member states wished to stay out of what was believed to be terrible conflict. Bryansk as well as many other states of the Imperial Russian nation were putting plans into play to attempt to break away from Imperial Russia if the situation did not improve. In October 1905, Nicholas reluctantly issued the famous October Manifesto, which conceded the creation of a national legislature. The right to vote was extended and no law was to go into force without confirmation by the legislature. The most moderate groups were satisfied; but the socialists rejected the concessions as insufficient and tried to organize new strikes. By the end of 1905, there was disunity among the reformers, and the Tsar's position was strengthened for the time being. Then Russia was once again thrust into another war with enthusiasm and patriotism, with the defense of Russia's fellow Orthodox Slavs, the Serbs, as the main battle cry. In August 1914, the Russian army entered Germany to support the French armies. Military reversals and shortages among the civilian population, soon soured much of the population. On March 3, 1917, a strike was organized on a factory in the capital Saint Petersburg; within a week nearly all the workers in the city were idle, and street fighting broke out. The strikers held mass meetings in defiance of the regime, and the army openly sided with the workers. A few days later a provisional government headed by Georgy Lvov was named by the Duma. Meanwhile, the socialists in Saint Petersburg had formed a Soviet of workers and soldiers deputies, forming an uneasy alliance with the Provisional Government. With his authority destroyed, Nicholas abdicated on 2 March 1917 Great Russian Schism On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a revolt against the ineffective Provisional Government. The October revolution ended the phase of the revolution instigated in February, replacing Russia's short-lived provisional parliamentary government with government by soviets, Liberal and monarchist forces, loosely organized into the White Army, immediately went to war against the Bolsheviks' Red Army. During this time Bryansk had gathered resources and arms and began building a small defense force in preparation of their independence. In 1918 Bryansk had officially declared its independence and frequently battled both sides for control over the area however after taking losses they simply left Bryansk alone. The First Bryansk Republic and the USSR On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the “Treaty of Creation of the USSR.” It created a state which surrounded Bryansk completely forcing Bryansk to become land locked and just a short distance from its capital in Moscow. Tensions between Bryansk and the USSR were tense to say the least. The USSR forced a trade embargo on Bryansk and threatened to invade on several occasions. With no real way of combating the USSR the Republic surrendered On May 2, 1924. The Second Bryansk Republic and World War Two With the German’s push into the USSR many of Bryansk remembered their short lived Independence and embraced the Germans as liberators when they reached the city in 1942. They appealed to the Germans for help in creating a new state however the terms the German government sent back to Bryansk officials were undesirable. Despite lacking any foreign support Bryansk declared its independence and was quickly stomped out by Germans Dissolution of the Soviet Union In 1989, the Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the USSR's laws. The period of legal uncertainty continued throughout 1991 as constituent republics slowly became de facto independent. A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on 17 March 1991, with the majority of the population voting for preservation of the Union in nine out of the 15 republics. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the New Union Treaty, which would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation, was agreed upon by eight republics. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the August Coup—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence, while the other twelve republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved. Creation of the Third Bryansk Republic With the USSR dissolved and many of its member states recognized by the international community, Bryansk decided to attempt independence for a third time in October 1992. The Newly formed Russian Federation furiously denied the move and threatened to send in its army to put down any attempt at independence. Bryansk officials appealed to the United Nations for recognition and within two weeks seventeen nations recognized Bryansk including the Völker Österreich. However this was not enough. In December the Russian Federation invaded, the Bryansk Leadership quickly began creating an army and a partisan force to combat the Russians however both were defeated within months. A guerrilla force remained active for months being supplied by foreign powers. Eventually in 1998, after years of fighting and massive losses on both side Bryansk was given independence and recognition as a full independent state. From Republic To Coup d'état With their independence secured Bryansk began the monumental task of rebuilding a nation broken from years of fighting and of a collapsing eastern European economy. Emerging from the Soviet system brought with them the inability to jump start the economy to acceptable levels for growth and soon the nation fell into turmoil. Within a year strikes began to break out between political groups which had turned the nations parliament in to a war-zone itself. In June 2000 the economy broke and the government collapsed. To prevent Russia from taking any opportunity at re-assimilation, the armed forces of Bryansk staged a coup d'état and step up a provisionary military government. The provisional military government acted quickly and declared marshal law under the direct orders of then Colonel Akken Novikov commanding officer of the Second Armored Company; Bryansk Defense Force. Other higher ranking officers such as General Adrik Ivanov took the opportunity their subordinates had started and took control of the provisionary government by the end of July 2000. Although with the collapse of the Bryansk government the junior officers that initially staged the coup could have ousted their superior officers they choose however to allow them to take command fearing a loss of support from the general public. Provisionary Government 2000-2004 With the Senior staff of the Bryansk Defense Force in control of the ' Provisionary' ' Government' ; their first act was to destroy the Third Republic’s Constitution, which was met with cheering from the populace. Their second act was to put the unemployed to work rebuilding the infrastructure the country had lost in the last nine years of fighting. By October 2000 the Bryansk economy was stabilizing and slowing moving towards privatization, the unemployment rate dropped to less than three percent; this gave the provisional government a strong boost of support. After being overshadowed by their commanding officers and receiving little to no recognition for their part in the coup from their commanders; even going as far as taking complete credit, many former coup leaders began resenting the PG. This began to create uneasy feelings between the armed elements and the PG which threatened the security and stability of the country. The PG was aware of the situation however after several interviews and speeches about the Coup were published the PG refused to turn back on their statements fearing public resentment. Instead they attempted to appease the dubbed ' Nihilist Party', however the move failed and created more “quiet” anxiety between the Military and its leaders. Although the Third Republics attempt to create their own currency failed out right the PG re-adopted the Russian Ruble which added to the success of their economic growth. With the major transportation infrastructure finished the PG turned its attention to the factories and businesses that were struggling and/or shut down. They attempted a complete privatization effort however few investors were willing to back a country which was in a political quagmire. Feelings from outside the country were unfavorable for Bryansk, many saw it as another failed Soviet state having to fall back into totalitarianism in order to function. In an attempt to change foreign perspective the PG quickly wrote a new constitution which set up a Parliament with limited power and representatives were chosen by the PG; this had little effect on foreign opinion. March of the Boyars and the Nihilist’s As of 2002 the Bryansk parliament which was created in 2000 was de-regulated by the government and quickly parties and political blocs were formed, by 2004 twelve parties were formed within four political blocs. However most of the parties seemed to not represent the people, instead they set up small councils similar to the “Soviets” of old however attempted to not use the phrase. These councils ran many of the local governments and organized food distribution and provided other services. The February 2004 the parliament was convened to attempt to pull the drifting parties together to form a felling of unity. They were intended to represent all the major parties but the Nihilists were not among them. They boycotted the meeting called a strike on the day of the conference and accused the delegates of not fully representing the people. Out of the long parliament session one strong person became vocal - former General and now head of defense ' Dmitri' ' Grigorev', who was so angered by the prevailing confusion between groups especially the Nihilists that he ordered two-thousand men loyal to the provisional government to the capital to put down the “Nihilist strikes,” although forbiddened by the government Girgorev’s troops advanced on the capital. Parliament leaders called for him to step down and refused, a few hours later the Governments military council of government at the time relieved Grigorev of his post. In turn Grigorev called for the resignation of the government and his men move into the capital. However Grigorev had seriously miscalculated the Nihilists and the workers who were on strike; they called for a milita to be made to defend against Grigorev which numbered ten-thousand strong. Grigorev was resisted by a popular movement to keep him from overthrowing the Provisional Government headed now by the Nihilists. The Nihilists saw this as an opportunity to destroy loyal army support to the government. What would later be called the Battle of Bryansk began in the early morning of February fourteenth. Grigorev’s armor elements spear headed an assault into the city. However was met and out numbered. The bulk of the Nihilists were former Soviet and Bryansk soldiers who organized and lead the citizen groups in the fight. Also with several army bases under their control they used the equipment against Grigorev’s men. Outnumbered, surrounded, and now de-moralized his men surrendered, Girgorev himself was captured attempting to flee the city and was executed by Nihilists supporters. Those that resisted Girgorev returned to the city and the victor was not the government it was rather the Nihilist party. By May 2000 the Nihilists had the general support of most of the councils and of the population. In September The Nihilist party leaders met and in a vote of ten to two voted in favor to Novikov’s proposal for another coup. The Nihilist militia was gathered and on September the twenty-fifth they were sent out to take control of key areas of the city and surrounded the Parliament building and the capital building where government officials had gathered for meetings. The party now in control of the city demanded the surrender of the provisional government which they refused and called in military units to face the militia however most of these units joined their comrades. This forced the government the Nihilists called Boyars to surrender. Many of the former Bryansk senior officers were imprisoned and sentenced with treason. With all military and provisional government opposition crushed the Nihilist took control of the government. The Fourth Bryansk Republic On January 7, 2005 a committee was formed with the task to create a new permanent government. The final version of the constitution was voted, signed, and published on March 3. The constitution called for a President to handle internal issues, a Prime Minister to handle foreign issues, a Parliament as legislator branch and a judicial branch. Having been satisfied with the results of their second coup the Nihilist Party committee disbanded on March the 30th, however many members wanted to stay and make sure the system was not over run and formed the Communist Party of the Bryansk Republic or CPBR. Other Parties began to organize such as the Social Democrats, Bryansk First, Progressive Socialist Party, Congress of Bryansk Nationalists and Our Bryansk–People's Self-Defense Party. These parties after the election in November 2006 first convened in December. During the first elections former Colonel of the Bryansk military, coup leader and former head of the Nihilist Party, now member of the CPBR Akken Novikov was election Prime Minister of Bryansk and is now on his second term. Klauga and Tula Expansion In November 2011 after the successful Parliament elections, Novikov - still prime minister - sent the rejuvenation Byransk Armed forced into the Klauga and Tula regions just north of Bryansk. The official reasoning was to assist the now starving populations and restore order to the region, however uncovered documents suggest that the expansion was purely for resources and living room. Despite this the military was able to take both regions without any loss of life on either side. The Fall of Bryansk In January of 2012 Bryansk suffered a major economic collapse due to help set up what would be later be called the Republic of New Jersey followed by a massive civilian protest. This lead to Akken Novikov steeping down from the Prime Ministers office. Without a major unifying figure the nation fell apart. Geography Bryansk lies just west of Russia in the western part of the East European Plain, occupying the middle part of the Desna River basin. The area, covering 34,900 km² and shares borders with Russia to the North and East, Ukraine to the southwest, and Belarus to the northwest. The climate is temperate continental. The average temperature in January is -7 - 9 °C. The average July temperature is between 18 and 20 °C. About a quarter of the total area is covered by forests, mainly coniferous, mixed and deciduous, as well as forest-steppe. Natural resources include deposits of sand, clay, chalk, marl, and other building materials, as well as phosphorite. As a result of the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986, part of the territory of Bryansk region has been contaminated with radionuclides (mainly the Klimovsky, Klintsy, Krasnogorsk, Surazh and Novozybkov areas). In 1999, some 226,000 people lived in areas with the contamination level above 5 Curie/km2, representing approximately 16% of the country’s population. Politics According to the Bryansk Constitution of 2005, the country is a semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Bryansk Republic is fundamentally structured as a multi-party representative Republic, with the federal government composed of three branches: *Legislative: The bicameral Federal Assembly, made up of the State Duma and the 10-member Federation Council, adopts federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse and the power of impeachment of the President. *Executive: The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. *Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the President, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional. The president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term, but not for a third consecutive term). Ministries of the government are composed of the Premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (whereas the appointment of the latter requires the consent of the State Duma and a general election). Leading political parties in Byranks include the Communist Party of the Bryansk Republic, Social Democrats, Bryansk First, Progressive Socialist Party, Congress of Bryansk Nationalists and Our Bryansk–People's Self-Defense Party. Foreign observers have raised questions as to how much of Bryansk's political system corresponds with the former Soviet Union. The main cause of this has been the rate in which the CPBR has gained membership. Within four years it has become the single largest party in Parliament and has control of the Prime Minister’s office. This has created some fear of a return of a Soviet state however other just see it as a return to a dictatorship. Economy Bryansk is a developing region with great industrial potential. Companies in the region manufacture products for export abroad. The most developed industries include woodworking and pulp and paper, building materials, engineering and metalworking, electronics, chemicals, forestry, light industry and textiles. The engineering industry produces cars, diesel locomotives, machine tools, refrigeration units, graders, asphalt spreaders, excavators, road harrows, woodworking equipment, heat generators, marine and other diesel engines, bicycles, and agricultural machinery. Agriculture Fertile soils and a long growing period favor the development of agriculture in Bryansk Region, which is one of the leading agricultural regions in the area More than half of the region's land supply is used for agriculture. Most of this land (72%) is arable land, 27% consists of meadows and pastures, and 1% consists of gardens and berry fields. Livestock breeding, crop cultivation, and market gardening form the basis of the region's diversified agriculture. Potatoes are the second most important crop after grain. After Peter the Great brought them to Russia in the early 18th century, they became the country's "second bread". Potatoes are unique in that they are simultaneously an industrial, feed, and food crop. Russia's largest potato granulating mill outfitted with modern equipment is located in Bryansk Demographics Births (2010): 14,319 (11.0 per 1000) Deaths (2010): 23,197 (17.8 per 1000) Births increased by 7.8% and deaths remained the same in 2010 compared to 2011 Culture Bryansk was one of the cultural centers of Rus in the Middle Ages. Painters, architects, carvers, jewelers, smiths, and embroideresses all worked in Bryansk. In each century, they beautified the churches, houses, and streets in their own way. Few of their names are known, but their works are. Bryansk itself is connected with the golden age of Russian national culture. Klintsy is the second largest city of Bryansk oblast and was one of the Old Believers’ centers, now known for its textile industry and its ancient temples. Trubchevsk is noted for its archeological and architectural monuments, in particular the Trinity Cathedral of the 13th-19th centuries with its tomb. The museum contains some valuable items dated to the 6th-7th centuries The People of Bryansk have evolved in a way where they do not trust government officials and will at anytime cost seek to destroy any perceive wrong doing. The people of Bryansk wish to remain independent and be ruled in their own way. This has reflected regional politics. Category:Nations Category:Deleted nations